


The Babysitting Games

by wonsteapot



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 16:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15733356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonsteapot/pseuds/wonsteapot
Summary: “It's not that hard," he says, offhand. "Kids are easy to win over, they have very simple demands and you just have to know how to pander to them."Or something. At least that’s what he’d read inBabysitting for Dummies.Soonyoung's mouth twists, eyes narrowing irately. "Are you implying I don't know how to pander to my nephew's needs?""It's not an implication when it seems to be true," quips Wonwoo





	The Babysitting Games

**Author's Note:**

  * For [peachtrees](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachtrees/gifts).



> Hello! 
> 
> Can I just say, your prompts were all brilliant and I was really torn between a few of them, but eventually this one held my attention the most. It was a lot of fun writing it, and while I'm still not entirely satisfied with how it turned out, I hope you enjoy reading it!

  
  


He is minding his own business, sprawled across a bench under the shade of a large oak, lazily skimming over a battered old copy of _Macbeth_ , when something smashes into the side of his head with enough force to knock his glasses right off his face and the book slips out of his hand, falling off the bench. 

“Oh, _shit_! Sorry!”

Dazed, Wonwoo blinks rapidly, trying to clear the flashes of light exploding across his vision. 

“You alright there, dude?”

Still reeling from the blow, he squints at the blurry outline of a guy hovering over him. His eyesight is poor as it is, but without his glasses and thanks to the way his head’s now a throbbing mess, no amount of squinting brings the person’s face into focus. 

“Shit, should I take you to the hospital?” asks the guy, nervously waving a hand inches from his nose. “Can you talk?”

“I don’t know, can I?” he grumbles, annoyed, wincing when his head protests the minute he stands up. He gingerly touches his temple where he can already feel a sizeable bump forming. 

The culprit laughs nervously, bending down to pick up Wonwoo’s glasses from the grass before rubbing it hastily on his bright red t-shirt in a poor attempt to clean them. Wonwoo snatches it from his hands, sliding them on in his haste to properly glare at the culprit with his vision intact. The lenses are a bit smudged, but he ignores it, taking in the chubby cheeks and sharply slanted eyes on a pale face with a mop of silver hair. 

The guy looks like he’s accidentally wandered out of an anime. 

"Are you okay?" the anime protagonist asks, offering a nervous smile. 

The smile pushes his cheeks out, and Wonwoo is suddenly reminded of the pet hamster he had in primary school. 

"I've just nearly had my brain kicked out of my skull by some strange dude wearing jorts," he mutters, frowning at the other deeply. "What do you think?"

The hesitant smile on the other's face disappears rather quickly, a furrow forming between his brows. "Look, I _said_ I'm sorry. It's not like I kicked that ball with the sole intent of smashing your head in," he protests, fidgeting with a hole in his jorts self-consciously. "Although, I'm starting to feel less sorry about that now."

"What? You've got some nerve—"

Before Wonwoo could finish giving the guy a piece of his mind, a little boy runs up to them, bending over slightly, panting to catch his breath. "Uncle Soonyoung! Where's our ball?" he whines, voice tiny and a lisp apparent in his words. He looks no older than five. 

The guy, Soonyoung, startles slightly, turning to the boy. "Oh, don't worry, Jinki. I’ll find the ball as soon as I finish talking to my friend over here," he says, smiling brightly at the kid. "Why don't you go play with the Lego in the meantime? I'll be right over."

The boy huffs, pouting, but then runs off with a brief nod. Wonwoo watches the little figure toddle over to a picnic blanket spread out a few feet away, reaching over immediately to rummage in a big backpack. There's a picnic hamper sat right next to the backpack. 

Soonyoung turns to him with a sigh, and runs a hand through his hair, making some of the strands stand on end. "Look, are we cool? I better get back to Jinki before he ends up eating one of the Lego pieces, and then I'll be in another world of trouble," he says. 

"As long as you keep your games to yourself," Wonwoo replies, watching the guy walk around the bench looking for the errant ball that assaulted him only a few minutes ago. 

Soonyoung retrieves the football that had rolled further down the grass, tucking it under his arm before starting to trek back towards his picnic blanket. "I'm just here to babysit my nephew, not to attack random bystanders," he calls back. "Hopefully we won't have to cross paths once again."

Wonwoo watches him sprint back to his nephew, just in time to intercept the little boy from putting something in his mouth. He snorts when the boy retaliates by smacking Soonyoung's cheek. 

"Babysitting, huh?" he muses out loud, inching over to check in on his baby cousin, who's still fast asleep in her stroller next to the bench. She's drooling a little, and Wonwoo carefully plucks the little stuffed bear that's clutched in her fingers, hiding it away in the bag tucked underneath the buggy. 

He feels a slight sense of superiority with his cousin slumbering blissfully, while Soonyoung's nephew is now wailing at the top of his lungs in distress at being refused a meal of whatever creepy-crawly he'd been trying to eat. Soonyoung's face is similarly scrunched up in distress, arms flapping around, trying to calm the little boy without much success. 

Sniggering quietly, Wonwoo tucks away his book into his backpack and unlocks the brakes on the buggy, before making his way over to the spectacle at a leisurely pace. 

It is a bit of a gamble. The loud noise could wake Hyerim, but he knows from experience that his two-year-old cousin could easily sleep through an earthquake once she drifts off, something her parents never fail to gloat about during family dinners. 

As he passes the others, he pauses by their blanket, leaning against the buggy casually until Soonyoung looks up. The little boy is now sniffling, tired from his tantrum. Wonwoo can see the pout from where he's standing, and he feels a smile tug at his lips at the cute image. 

"It looks like a bit of a struggle here," he remarks airily. "Are you _sure_ you know what you're doing?"

Soonyoung scowls. "We're fine," he grits out. His attention then drops to the buggy, eyes widening in surprise, although he doesn't make any comment. 

His nephew, on the other hand, curiousity getting the better of him, stops crying and comes over to have a look. His head only just barely comes up, but he grips the sides and goes on his tip-toes to peer at Hyerim. "Is that a baby?"

Wonwoo grins. "Yes, she's only two years old," he tells the pudgy little boy. "How old are you?"

Jinki smiles shyly at him. "Three and a half."

"Oh, you're all grown-up, aren't you?" Wonwoo says, crouching down until he's on the same eye-level. "Perhaps you could show your uncle here how to make a Lego house."

Jinki's eyes sparkle, delighted at the comment, puffing his chest out proudly. "I like you. More than Uncle Soonyoung"

" _Hey_!" comes the cry of outrage from his uncle, who'd been quietly observing their interaction from his spot on the blanket up until then. "Jinki, I can hear you," he says, crawling over to them until he can scoop up his giggling nephew in his arms, tickling his soft tummy in retaliation. The boy shrieks in laughter, twisting out of his arms and running off to his Lego set, not before sticking a tongue out at Soonyoung. 

Wonwoo chuckles. "He's a cute kid."

Soonyoung nods. "A bit of a handful though, very stubborn." Then he turns to Wonwoo with a raised eyebrow. "Are you like some sort of kid-whisperer? I've never seen Jinki warm up to someone so quick."

“It's not that hard," he says, offhand. "Kids are easy to win over, they have very simple demands and you just have to know how to pander to them." 

Or something. At least that’s what he’d read in _Babysitting for Dummies_.

Soonyoung's mouth twists, eyes narrowing irately. "Are you implying I don't know how to pander to my nephew's needs?"

"It's not an implication when it seems to be true," quips Wonwoo, cautiously eyeing the three-year-old who’s now trying to stuff an entire Lego house into his mouth. 

Soonyoung follows his line of vision, lets out a shriek and runs over to wrestle with Jinki, who jumps to his feet at the sight and toddles off at a fast trot before he could reach him. 

Snorting to himself, Wonwoo peeks at the stroller once again, and this time large eyes blink up at him. Hyerim sucks on her thumb, sticking out a small chubby hand up to wave at him. “Who’s the best babysitter?”

“Woowoo,” Hyerim gurgles happily. 

_Yup, that’s right_ , he thinks with smug satisfaction, throwing one last look at Jinki leading Soonyoung around the park on a merry chase.

~*~

  
  


“I’m really ever so grateful, you have no idea!” Minkyung calls out, even as she runs out of the door, off to meet a couple of friends for a last-minute brunch. 

Soonyoung sighs. He looks at the television screen, where he’d paused a dance video by Taemin when Minkyung turned up, unannounced, and his notebook full of his choreography notes lying on the couch. Jinki’s sitting next to it, quiet and glum, wide eyes watching him. 

So much for a quiet morning in. 

His one-bedroom apartment is not exactly child-friendly. There’s not much in the way of entertainment for a small child, and he’s not sure how long he can keep Jinki entertained with videos on YouTube (which he’s not allowed to do, anyway). 

“I’m hungry.”

His nephew sounds sulky, and that’s never a good sign. It’s a harbinger of waterworks and tantrums, and he’s never been able to deal with either very well. Unfortunately, Minkyung had left the snack she’d packed for her son back at the house in her rush this morning, and to make matters worse, Soonyoung ate the last banana in the house minutes before his sister turned up, and now he only has a tub of gochujang in the fridge. Minkyung would probably skin him alive if he fed Jinki chilli paste. 

“Right, let’s go get some pancakes.”

Jinki’s face lights up immediately, and Soonyoung feels a warm wave of accomplishment when the little boy runs over and jumps into his arms. 

It takes them an extra twenty minutes than usual because Jinki decides he wants to pet every single dog they come across on the way (Soonyoung hadn’t known there were so many dogs in his neighbourhood), and by the time they walk into the pancake house, Soonyoung’s probably hungrier than his nephew. 

“Blueberry pancakes!” Jinki exclaims loudly as soon as the waitress passes by their table, and the young girl beams at him on her way to another table with their order. 

When she comes back to their table with her little pad and a large glass of apple juice (on the house for Jinki), Soonyoung orders his usual and his nephew hides behind his shoulder, shy all of a sudden.

“Say thank you, Jinki.” Soonyoung nudges him gently, but the little boy only buries into his side even more, cheeks a warm pink. The waitress giggles, gives Soonyoung a coy smile and saunters off with their order. Chances are, he’d probably find a phone number scrawled hastily on the bill along with, if lady luck is smiling down on him, a discount. 

If he had a single straight bone in his body, he’d be over the moon at the way girls just melt around him whenever he babysits Jinki, but sadly, his type is usually tall, dark and handsome. Glasses are a bonus. 

He’s helping Jinki cut the pancakes into small little squares, with the boy stuffing them into his mouth as quickly as he can, when there’s a loud cry from behind them. In the next instant, a whole pancake goes flying over their heads, landing on the floor a couple of inches away. Soonyoung yelps, startled, 

“Oh my _god_ , Hyerim, what does your mother say about throwing food?” exclaims a deep baritone behind them. A loud high-pitched scream is the resounding response, and Soonyoung cranes his neck around to check on the commotion. 

The scene he sees leaves him simultaneously wincing and stifling a snort of amusement. One of the small tables occupying the corner of the small establishment looks like it’s just been through one hell of a food fight, torn chunks of pancake and what looks like mushed strawberries smeared across the table-top, a plate nearly teetering off the table and a puddle of juice underneath. A toddler, face smeared with more of the strawberry mush and maple syrup, pouts at the young man sat next to her, large eyes shining wetly. When the he tries to wipe her face, she lets out a shrill shriek and punches his on the nose with a small fist. “Hyerim, _please_!”

The guy looks up in exasperation, and Soonyoung blinks with a jolt of recognition. 

The jerk from the park. 

“Uncle, a pancake flew!” announces Jinki, excitedly tugging on his shirt and pointing at the offending pancake. 

And Jinki, never one for using his inside voice, is loud enough to attract the guy’s attention, who glances over with a frown. When he sees Soonyoung, his eyes widen slightly before he flashes a rueful smile their way. 

“I’m so sorry, did you get caught in the crossfire?” he asks, and Hyerim uses his momentary distraction to grab a strip of bacon off his plate and throws it to the floor.

Soonyoung snorts, amused by the accomplished expression on the little girl’s face. “No, she missed,” he replies. “Although, I’m not sure we’ll survive the next attack.”

Jinki scrambles up on his chair and peers over the back, wanting to join the conversation. “It flew!” The guy laughs, waving at his nephew, who waves back enthusiastically.

“Jinki, no climbing the furniture,” Soonyoung reminds him gently, “here, you should finish the rest of your pancake,” and feels a smug sense of satisfaction when the boy immediately sits back down, attention once again on inhaling the food. 

In direct contrast to the well-behaved boy, Hyerim is now drawing streaks on the table with fingers dipped in what looks to be maple syrup. With a quiet groan, the guy grabs her hands and wipes them down before moving to her face, amidst her vocal protests. 

“Guess the tables have turned,” Soonyoung says pointedly, loud enough to catch the other’s attention once again. 

Perhaps he’s still a bit bitter at the implication of being a bad babysitter during their first run-in only last weekend, which he clearly remembers, and he can get a little petty and competitive at times. Besides, the guy is annoyingly good-looking, which just rubs him up the wrong way for reasons he’d rather not think about. 

“What?”

“You don’t seem to be that great at _pandering_ to your daughter’s needs either.” 

The guy gapes at him for a few seconds, eyebrows raised. “My daughter?”

Soonyoung gestures at the toddler. 

“She’s my _cousin_.”

“Well, your cousin doesn’t seem too keen on pancakes,” he points out without missing a beat, weirdly pleased the man’s not the father. He doesn’t try to dissect that any further. “And something tells me the employees here are not going to be that appreciative of her attempts at redecorating the place.”

The man scowls. “She’s a two-year-old. I think they’d understand.” Then he smirks, eyes darting to something behind Soonyoung. “At least she’s not eating off the floor.”

Soonyoung follows his gaze, and nearly yelps in dismay when he spots Jinki stuffing a piece of pancake into his mouth. A piece of the pancake that had been on the floor only a few minutes ago. 

“Jinki, no, _no, that’s dirty_!”

He rushes to pry the piece of pancake from the little boy’s fingers before he could shove any more of it into his mouth, but Jinki bites his hand in retaliation, and Soonyoung howls in pain. 

The waitress who’d served them hurries over with some kitchen towels, finally alerted to the chaos in their corner of the restaurant. If he hadn’t been so preoccupied with his nephew, he might have even laughed at the look of absolute terror that crosses her face at the sight of the toddler’s table before she schools her expression into that of professional patience. 

By the time he manages to return to his seat, with a grumbling Jinki in tow, the guy is strapping his cousin into her stroller, getting ready to leave. 

He gives Soonyoung an amused look. “Good luck!” he sing-songs.

Soonyoung glowers after him as he disappears out the door, once again feeling like a complete clown. His fleeting triumph over the other now feels trivial. 

“Can I have another pancake?” 

“May I,” Soonyoung corrects almost subconsciously, “and no, that’s enough sweets for the day. Your mum won’t be happy if she finds out.”

Jinki blinks up at him, lips starting to wobble and a sudden wet sheen suddenly coating his wide eyes.

He sighs, not looking forward to the imminent tantrum. 

Babysitting is _really_ not his forte, but he’d rather eat his shoe than admit to that.

~*~

  
  


They run into each other again, only a couple of days later. And it’s at the park, again, with Wonwoo nearly tripping over a highly energetic Jinki who dashes past him while he’s casually strolling over to his favourite oak with a giggling Hyerim perched across his shoulders. 

“Jinki, wait!” yells his uncle, hot on his heels, a picnic hamper tucked under one arm. He shoots an exasperated, apologetic look at Wonwoo as he passes him. 

Quickly regaining his composure, Wonwoo smirks back at him. “It’s sad when a three-year-old can outrun you, old man.”

Soonyoung stops abruptly, turning to pin him with an annoyed glare. “For a noodle, you certainly make a lot of noise.” Then he flounces off after the little boy, who’s now chasing someone’s puppy around the park. 

It’s such a ridiculous statement that it leaves him speechless. _A noodle_ , he thinks indignantly, glancing at his bicep (or lack thereof). It’s not really his fault that his body seems to have a ridiculously impressive metabolism rate. 

He spends the rest of the afternoon openly laughing at Soonyoung, who’s chosen a picnic spot only a few feet away from his usual bench and so is within easy hearing range, when his nephew continues to be the most precious little brat. 

At one point, Soonyoung plucks the little boy from where he’d been nosing around the picnic basket of a family of four, apologising profusely to the bemused mother, and returns to their blanket with the little boy shrieking and squirming in his arms. When he tries to get Jinki to eat a sandwich, the boy peels the two slices apart with a pout and then proceeds to slap them on Soonyoung’s cheeks. 

Wonwoo loses it at this point, body bending over in raucous laughter, the image of the other’s irate face smeared with peanut butter and jelly leaving him wheezing for breath every single time he thinks he’d managed to get a grip of himself. 

Hyerim looks at him curiously from where she’d been intently flicking through her collection of pop-up books. “Woowoo, good?”

“It’s okay, Hyerim, I’m alright,” says Wonwoo, patting her on the head lightly, blinking back tears from his eyes. “Just having too much fun.”

His cousin nods sagely for someone her age, then goes back to her book once again. He smiles fondly at her, caressing the soft black strands underneath his fingers. And for the umpteenth time, he thanks all the deities for blessing his aunt with such a well-behaved toddler. 

Except for meal times. That’s a warzone he’d like to avoid in the future at all costs. 

“Can I see?” comes a small voice, and Wonwoo looks up in surprise. 

Jinki is hovering close to their bench, eyes fixed on the pop-up book on Hyerim’s lap. There’s a large ketchup stain down the front of his t-shirt, and dirt smeared across his cheeks. Wonwoo looks past him, wondering where his babysitter is, and spots Soonyoung splayed out face-down on the picnic blanket. Jinki seems to have managed to best his uncle. 

Before he can say anything, Hyerim pats the bench next to her, and the next thing he knows, Jinki’s making himself comfortable beside his cousin, head bent close to the pop-up caterpillar in the book. 

“This is pretty,” he says, poking the caterpillar, and Hyerim giggles in agreement. 

Wonwoo relaxes back in his seat, relieved that his cousin is comfortable with the boy’s easy familiarity. In fact, the two seem to hit it off, Jinki lapping up the toddler’s attention like a sponge and more than happy to perform for her to keep her laughing. 

It’s cute. 

“Oh, _thank god_!”

Wonwoo raises an eyebrow at Soonyoung who slumps down next to him, uninvited. 

“I thought I lost him for a second there,” says Soonyoung, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “How does he still have so much energy?”

“Maybe it’s ‘cause of all the sugar you’re feeding him,” says Wonwoo primly. 

Soonyoung frowns at him. “Is criticising others your job?”

“No, just my hobby.” He smirks, earning a roll of the eyes from the other. Up close, his cheeks appear even plumper, and very soft, and Wonwoo’s suddenly gripped with a highly inappropriate urge to pinch them. 

He might have been able to get away with it with Jinki, but doing it to a fully grown adult, whom he barely knows, is perhaps not advisable. 

“I feel like at this point we should probably know each other’s names,” comments Soonyoung, eyes briefly meeting his before he focuses his gaze on the kids. 

“I already know your name,” Wonwoo tells him. “Soonyoung, right?”

The other gives him a wary look. “What? How?”

“Chill, I’m not a weird stalker, if that’s why you look like you’re about to piss your pants,” Wonwoo says, smirking when Soonyoung scowls. “Your nephew called you that the first time we met.”

“Oh.” A faint dusting of pink appears across his cheeks, and Wonwoo watches with interest. “Well then, shouldn’t you tell me your name? It’s only fair.”

“Wonwoo.” He holds out his hand expectantly, and after a few seconds of hesitation, Soonyoung grips it in a firm handshake. The other’s hands are really soft, and squishy, and it’s almost disappointing when Soonyoung pulls away quickly. 

“And who’s this?” Soonyoung leans across his lap, reaching over to tickle Hyerim under her chin faintly. She squeals a bit, batting away Soonyoung’s fingers.

Wonwoo blinks, slightly taken aback by the sudden proximity. “Hyerim, she’s my aunt’s.”

“She’s adorable.” Soonyoung smiles softly, straightening up. 

A weird flutter in his stomach makes Wonwoo shift on the bench. “Yes, well, good genes,” he says, running a hand through his hair smugly. 

The other levels him with an unimpressed look. “You really are incorrigible.”

“Thank you.”

Soonyoung laughs, eyes disappearing into neat little crescents and cheeks becoming even more pronounced. Wonwoo stamps down that weird urge once again, instead chuckling along with the other man. 

Jinki appears in front of Soonyoung, having apparently exhausted his interest in the pop-up books, and scrambles up onto his lap, throwing his pudgy arms around his uncle’s neck, yawning. 

“I’m sleepy,” he mumbles, burying his face into Soonyoung’s neck. 

“It’s not your naptime yet, Jinki,” sighs Soonyoung, patting him on the back. “We can go home if you’re tired, though. See, this is why I asked you to slow down earlier.”

“ _I want to sleep_!”

Wonwoo snorts. “He’s a stubborn little one.”

Soonyoung gives him a tired look. “Be glad your cousin is so docile.”

“I don’t know, she can be quite feisty,” Wonwoo says, glancing over to Hyerim who’s now busy tearing one of the pop-up characters out of the book, and hastily reaches over to pry her fingers away from it. She gives him an indignant look but lets him replace the book with a different one. “You saw how she was at the pancake house.”

Soonyoung chuckles, nodding. 

“But yeah, she’s a very good girl.” And then, just because he can’t resist being a little shit, “and of course, I’m just naturally a good babysitter, unlike _some_ people.”

The grin on the other’s face vanishes in the blink of an eye, and Soonyoung’s lips thin into a firm line. “God, you’re arrogant.”

“Just stating the facts,” Wonwoo says lightly. 

“Right then, Mr Babysitter Extraordinaire, I’ll remove my mediocre self from your esteemed presence. Adios!”

Soonyoung stands with a quiet ‘oomph’ tucking Jinki firmly over his hip, levels one last glare at Wonwoo and then storms off. 

“Oh, come on,” Wonwoo calls after him, amusement leaking into his tone. “And here I thought we were going to be friends.”

Soonyoung abruptly turns around and stalks back to the bench until he’s looming over Wonwoo, eyes narrowed, and cheeks flushed in annoyance. 

“Not when you keep making digs at my babysitting skills every single time I come across your insufferable mug,” he snaps, and then whirls around dramatically and stomps off. Jinki waves at Wonwoo over his shoulder, and he waves back, biting back a laugh.

~*~

  
  


The next time they see each other at the park, Soonyoung greets him with a heated glare and then proceeds to dig out an impressive array of toys out of his large rucksack and arranges it on his picnic blanket. Jinki shrieks happily, diving at them with gleeful relish, spoiled for choice. 

Wonwoo would have found the whole spectacle entertaining if not for his cousin honing in on the abundance of toys and suddenly tugging on his hair to try and steer him in their direction. No amount of distraction works, and Wonwoo ends up meekly asking Soonyoung if Hyerim could join in when she starts wailing at the top of her lungs. 

The smug satisfaction on Soonyoung’s face does exactly what it’s meant to do; it grates on his every last nerve. 

So, the next weekend, Wonwoo turns up at the park, armed with his laptop and tablet. His aunt would probably kill him if she ever found out that he’s breaking the cardinal rule of not using media to keep his cousin entertained outside the very specific times when she’s allowed to watch her shows. But he knows it’s a fool-proof way of keeping the kids’ attention and winning over their affections. 

And sure enough, as soon as he puts on _Peppa Pig_ and casually props Hyerim in front of the laptop, Jinki zooms over and makes himself comfortable on the blanket next to her, ignoring Soonyoung’s loud protests. Soonyoung eventually wanders over, throwing Wonwoo a dirty look before sitting down next to his nephew. 

“This is a _terribly_ lazy way of babysitting,” sniffs Soonyoung haughtily. 

Wonwoo winks at him and enjoys the way the other turns a bright red, sputtering indignantly before falling silent for the rest of the afternoon. 

He counts it as his win, in many ways.

~*~

  
  


“Okay, Captain Babysitter, you need to stop with this shit,” hisses Soonyoung the fourth time he turns up with his laptop. “My sister asked me why Jinki keeps talking about the blasted Wiggles.”

Wonwoo stares back, the sound of Jinki and Hyerim trying to sing along to the _Wiggles’_ theme song filling the brief silence before Soonyoung sucks in a deep breath and clenches his jaw in frustration. 

“Before you,” he starts, pointing a finger in Wonwoo’s face aggressively, “our family lived in blissful ignorance of The Wiggles, and now all Jinki talks about is them, which is more than just a little bit suspicious.”

“So? He could have just come across them at nursery.”

“Minkyung’s already asked them about it, and guess what? They don’t watch it at his nursery,” Soonyoung continues through gritted teeth. “So now she thinks I’m skimping out on my babysitting duties by plopping Jinki down in front of the TV!”

“Well, you kind of are,” Wonwoo points out calmly, gesturing at the two children glued to his laptop screen. 

Soonyoung glowers at him, and Wonwoo is just a bit thrown at how attractive he looks in that moment, silver hair framing flushed cheeks, eyes flashing in anger. 

“Oh, uncle, there’s a kitty! I want it!” 

Soonyoung looks away, face immediately relaxing into an easy-going smile as he turns to address his nephew, and Wonwoo quickly recollects his thoughts. “Jinki, it’s someone else’s kitty, so we can’t take it, okay. Why don’t you finish watching this clip for now, and then we can stop by the pet store on the way home?”

When he turns back to Wonwoo, he gives him a pointed look. 

“What?” asks Soonyoung, brows furrowed. 

“You were just whining about how I’m exposing your nephew to too much media, and yet you’re not doing anything to stop it.”

“ _Excuse me_?” It comes out a bit too loud and angry, and they both sneak a peek at the kids to make sure they’re still distracted and unaware of their babysitters having a heated quarrel. Soonyoung shifts a few inches away, gesturing at Wonwoo to follow him. “Why do you think I’m whining? It’s so you’d stop bringing your laptop every _single fucking time_ ,” he whispers furiously. ”And I do not whine!”

“It’s not my fault that you can’t keep him entertained on your own,” Wonwoo says, inching closer to Soonyoung. “I never asked you to join us.”

“Why, you _little_ — you saw how he reacted that one time I tried to drag him away.“

“Once again, not my fault.”

“You’re such an asshole!”

“And you’re kinda really hot right now.”

Soonyoung jerks back, mouth dropping open and eyes going round. Wonwoo blinks, equally startled by the slip of his tongue. The silence between them stretches, pulling taut until Wonwoo feels a bit suffocated by it, and he can feel the skin behind his neck start to burn under Soonyoung’s incredulous gaze. 

And then Soonyoung frowns, cocking his head to the side. “Wait, why is it only the Wiggles?”

“What?”

But Wonwoo knows exactly what he means in the next instant, because his brain catches up with him at the exact moment Soonyoung turns around and goes white as a sheet. 

The kids. They can’t hear the kids anymore. 

“ _Shit!_ ”

~*~

  
  


Soonyoung has fucked up a lot in his life. 

Like the time he turned up for his Maths finals in secondary school having revised all of his Chemistry notes. Like the time he drove his father’s car into the lamppost outside their house while trying to parallel park. Like the time he infected his sister’s brand-new laptop with a virus while downloading gay porn (and she _still_ gives him grief over it). 

But this is fucking up on grand, epic proportions. 

And once Minkyung finds out, he’s just as good as dead. He might as well choose his coffin on the way home. 

“This is all my fault,” he sniffles, wiping away the tears streaming down his face as he follows Wonwoo. “I took my eyes off him and he just—“ He breaks off, choking on a sob. 

Wonwoo shoots a panicked look at him. “Will you stop crying and help me look? This is not just only your fault, it’s mine as well. But crying won’t fix anything right now.”

Soonyoung nods, taking in a long, shaky breath, trying to calm himself enough to be able to focus on the task at hand. “Where’d they even go?”

“They couldn’t have gone far,” Wonwoo mutters, clenching and unclenching his fists as his eyes scan the expanse of the park. It’s a popular park for families during the weekend, and there are people everywhere, which makes it all that much harder to locate the kids. “Hyerim can only toddle, so she’s not going to be very fast on her feet.”

Soonyoung gulps as an extremely unsavoury thought pops into his head. “But, what if someone—”

“No,” Wonwoo says firmly, grabbing his arm in a tight grip. Soonyoung winces slightly, but the unflinching look in the other’s eyes comforts him a little. “They’re fine, I know it. Probably just playing hide-and-seek.”

“Well, I would have liked to be included in the game,” he grumbles, rubbing his arm gingerly when Wonwoo lets him go with a contrite smile. 

“Look, I’m sorry, about earlier,” Wonwoo says, hesitant, eyes averted. “I was trying to rile you up on purpose and I’m sorry for being a dick.”

Soonyoung glances at him sharply. “Now’s not the time.”

“Oh, um, yeah, sorry.”

And yet, those words are still ringing very clearly in his ears. 

_And you’re kinda really hot right now._

What the fuck?

Soonyoung squeezes his eyes shut, slapping his face a few times to knock the memory out of his head. His cute, little, helpless (but not really, that kid had a mean kick) nephew is missing and here he is, getting all hot and bothered just because Wonwoo may have hit on him a few minutes ago. 

He’s a terrible person. 

“Minkyung’s never gonna trust me again,” he says thickly, wiping away a new flood of tears. “You’re right about one thing. I suck as a babysitter.”

Wonwoo’s face twists into a troubled look. “I was just teasing you. You don’t suck, Jinki’s just a bit of a handful sometimes.”

A strange sensation sweeps through his gut, and Soonyoung stumbles over his own feet a little, but he hastily pushes the feeling aside, focusing on locating his nephew. 

They spend a good thirty minutes, thirty nerve-wrecking minutes, running around and asking random strangers if they’d seen the kids. Every single time they’re met with a shake of a head or a “Sorry, no,”, Soonyoung feels a heavy weight settle over his chest, until he feels cold all over despite the heat by the time they head back to their blanket, heads hung low in defeat. 

“We’ll call the police,” Wonwoo is saying, voice still steady and calming despite the worry in his eyes. “Don’t worry, they’ll find them in no time.”

Soonyoung nods, too downtrodden to even bother with words. 

They’ve just reached their picnic spot, the abandoned laptop still playing the blasted Wiggles video, miraculously not stolen, when a familiar voice loudly yells, “Uncle!”

His head snaps back so fast he’s fearful of whiplash for a second, but the minute his eyes land on Jinki’s chubby legs sprinting over to him, he feels a sudden lightness in his chest as a wave of relief nearly bowls his over. 

“Jinki!” He sweeps the little boy up in his arms as soon he’s within reach, hugging him tight and peppering kisses all over his face. His nephew squirms in his arms, pushing at his face and whining in protest, but he’s too happy to pay it any mind even when Jinki smacks him on the nose. “Oh my god, I’m so, so, SO happy you’re okay, oh my god, I’m _so_ happy!”

Distantly, he can hear Wonwoo’s voice cry out his cousin’s name, and another voice joining the conversation, but he focuses on Jinki, checking him over for any injuries. 

“Where did you go?” he asks, trying to soften his tone so he doesn’t scare the little boy. ‘We were so worried!”

Jinki points at someone over his shoulder and smiles brightly. “We went to play with Jun’s kitty. It’s orange and fluffy!”

“Jun— who?”

“That would be me,” says a voice behind Soonyoung, and he turns quickly to see a tall, good-looking man standing beside Wonwoo. Hyerim is closely clutched in Wonwoo’s arms, head resting on his shoulder sleepily, and sure enough, Jun is carrying a fluffy, orange cat. 

“They chased Woozi all the way down to where I was sitting,” Jun explains, and Soonyoung assumes Woozi’s the cat. “I was sat behind that oak, so I guess you couldn’t see us very well, and this blanket was empty when I tried to walk them back, so I let them play with him while we waited for you guys to come back.”

Soonyoung nods dumbly. 

“Thank you for looking after them,” Wonwoo says, a genuine smile softening his features. “And sorry for the hassle.”

Jun laughs good-naturedly, waving a hand as if to brush the apology aside. “No, no, it was no bother at all. Woozi’s friendly and the kids were very well-behaved around him.”

“Woozi is fluffy!” Jinki announces excitedly, making grabby hands at the cat until Jun steps closer, letting him pat Woozi again. 

Soonyoung exchanges a look with Wonwoo, both biting back a grin at ‘well-behaved’. 

“We thought we lost the kids,” Soonyoung tells Jun, face relaxing into a smile now that his heart is not racing a mile per second. “I can’t say how grateful I am to you for bringing them back to us.”

Jun gives him a sheepish smile. “I feel like I should apologise on behalf of Woozi for luring them away from you in the first place.”

“Not at all.” Wonwoo snorts. “Trust me, this was bound to happen at some point anyway, whether Woozi was around or not.” When Soonyoung glances at him, he hurries to say, “I mean, neither of us are that great at this whole babysitting malarkey. We’re both still learning.”

Soonyoung hides his grin in Jinki’s hair, nodding slightly to acknowledge the olive branch extended his way. “Yeah, we’re not great at baby-sitting,” he agrees, watching the way Wonwoo’s hesitant smile widens into a grin and ignoring the way his heart skips a beat at the sight. 

Jun looks between them, a puzzled expression on his face. “Wait, why are you guys being asked to babysit if you’re so bad at it?”

This has them both dissolving into a fit of giggles, Jun looking even more confused in the midst of their impromptu laughing fit.

~*~

  
  


A week after the whole debacle, with Minkyung none-the-wiser, Soonyoung is unpacking the picnic hamper, with Jinki fiddling with a toy car on his left, when Wonwoo approaches them. 

“Would you mind if we joined you?”

“Hyemie!” Jinki exclaims as soon as he spots Hyerim sitting on Wonwoo’s shoulders. He nearly smothers the little girl in a hug when Wonwoo places her down next to him. 

Soonyoung chuckles at the kids squealing on the blanket and looks up at Wonwoo, who’s still shifting awkwardly on his feet in front of him. 

“Oh, sit down, will you? You’re making me antsy,” he sighs, unwrapping Jinki’s sandwich carefully. 

Wonwoo lowers himself next to him, dropping his rucksack on the grass and digging through it to pull out a tub full of melon cubes. He plays with the lid for a while, fingers prying it off and then pushing it back. Soonyoung observes him for a while, taking in his sharp, attractive features and letting his eyes trail lower appreciatively. He might have called Wonwoo a noodle, and yes, he is very slim, but his shoulders are broad, and he still remembers the firmness of his grip around his arm. Purely on the aesthetics front, Wonwoo ticks all the right boxes for him, and it’s difficult to control the blush that starts to creep up his neck when Wonwoo finally looks over at him, gaze lingering on his face. 

“So, I thought we could start over,” Wonwoo says, voice low, and it sends a rush of heat through his stomach. 

“Start over?” he asks, feeling extremely nervous for some odd reason. 

Wonwoo clears his throat a few times before he speaks. “Yeah, well, I feel like we got off on the wrong foot.”

“I kicked you in the face with a ball,” he reminds him. 

Wonwoo winces at the memory, but then laughs. “You sure know how to make an impression.”

“I don’t like to be boring.”

Wonwoo snorts, shaking his head. “No, you’re anything but.” And the way he says it sounds very affectionate, a soft smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Soonyoung has to look away before he embarrasses himself by doing something ridiculous like cooing at a grown man. 

Hastily, he crawls over to Jinki, handing him the sandwich and watching in faint amusement as the little boy methodically peels the slices apart before shoving one slice in its entirety into his mouth, smearing peanut butter and jelly across his cheek. Sighing quietly, he wipes Jinki’s cheek with a napkin before returning to his spot. 

Wonwoo is still fiddling with the tub of melon when he glances at him, so he makes a grab for It in an attempt to pass the snack to Hyerim, who’s sadly eyeing Jinki’s sandwich while chewing on her thumb. But Wonwoo, apparently back to being his usual annoying self, only tightens his grip on the tub and tugs it back. 

In the end, they end up engaged in a quiet tug-of-war over a tub of melon. 

“For _crying out loud_ , I’m only trying to help!” he snaps at Wonwoo. 

“I can manage this on my own,” Wonwoo insists, trying to peel his fingers off the tub without much success. Soonyoung can be a stubborn moose when he wants to. 

“You’ve been brooding over this stupid tub for the past ten minutes,” Soonyoung points out. “And Hyerim looks ready to snatch Jinki’s sandwich away any second now. Trust me, that won’t end well.”

“Just let me—“

“Oh my god, why can’t you just admit it when I’m right, _for once_!”

“Fine, you’re right. Now, just let me handle this.”

“You’re obviously not handling— _hmph_!”

Soonyoung freezes, fingers going limp around the tub when Wonwoo suddenly leans over and kisses him, lips firm and unrelenting against his. The other’s lips are slightly chapped, but really warm and soft, and he smells nice, like freshly cut grass and mint. And it’s enough to fry the wires in his brain, grinding everything to a sudden halt. Wonwoo uses his momentary distraction to snatch the tub away from his hands, pulling back with a triumphant smirk. 

“Huh, that worked.”

Soonyoung gapes at him, heart racing, while Wonwoo calmly places the tub of melon in front a Hyerim, who beams up at him before grasping a piece and flinging it into the distance. 

“What the hell was _that_?” he whispers furiously when Wonwoo sits back with a sigh. 

“What was what?” The other smiles at him complacently. 

Soonyoung throws a quick glance at the kids to make sure they are distracted and then grabs a fistful of Wonwoo’s stupid SpongeBob t-shirt, dragging him closer. “You can’t just go around kissing me whenever you like!”

“That wasn’t a kiss,” Wonwoo informs him. “It was distraction technique, and it worked very well, if I may say so myself.”

Soonyoung is so frustrated he forgets how to speak for a moment. 

And he must have looked pretty murderous, because Wonwoo starts to look a little apologetic after a while, a hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck self-consciously. 

“Hey, look, I’m sorry about that,” says Wonwoo. He pats Soonyoung’s hand, which is still fisted in his t-shirt. “I…crossed a line.”

Soonyoung sighs, letting go and rolling his eyes in exasperation. “We’re not doing so great at this whole ‘starting over’ thing, are we?”

Wonwoo laughs, nose crinkling cutely and Soonyoung feels some of his frustration trickle away. “Okay, wait, let’s do this properly.”

He raises an eyebrow, giving the other man a measured look when he sticks out a hand in front of him. 

Wonwoo takes a deep breath, then says in a bit of a rush, “Hi, I’m Wonwoo. I’m an aspiring screenwriter and I babysit my little cousin most weekends to give her parents a break for a few hours. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Soonyoung blinks at him in surprise. “Aspiring screenwriter?”

Wonwoo merely raises his eyebrows, hand still out-stretched in front of him. 

With a quiet huff, he takes Wonwoo’s hand, shaking it lightly. “Hello, I’m Soonyoung. I work as a professional dancer most of the time, and as a babysitter for my sister on the side. Nice to meet you, too.”

“Professional dancer?” Wonwoo gives him an appraising look, and Soonyoung shrugs, blushing under the scrutiny. “Then, you must be pretty limber, right?”

The words come out in a lazy drawl, and he can sadly feel his blush darkening. He doesn’t deign to answer the question. By now, he can tell when Wonwoo’s trying to rile him up, which seems to be ‘always’ when it comes to him. 

There’s also the matter of Wonwoo still holding his hand, which is quite distracting. 

“You can let go now,” he says, trying to withdraw his hand. 

“I know,” Wonwoo says, refusing to let go. 

Soonyoung gives him an unimpressed look. 

“Say, would you like to grab a cup of coffee with me sometime?” asks Wonwoo, suddenly seeming quite nervous, adjusting his glasses a few times. “Without the kids?”

He can’t say he’s entirely surprised. The lingering looks, the teasing, the comment from the other day, the way Wonwoo always seems to hover around him at the park, the _kiss_ ; it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on, and while a lot of it has been extremely infuriating, Soonyoung has also sort of enjoyed the attention. 

“You know, I’m not sure how much success you’ve had with this whole ‘pulling-on-pigtails’ approach in the past,” he murmurs, lips twisting into a smirk. “But for future reference, you can skip all of that and just ask someone out on a date like a normal person.”

It’s with great pleasure he observes a bright red flush spread across the other’s face.

“W-what?” 

“I mean, sure, it’s worked for you this time,” Soonyoung remarks, now gripping onto Wonwoo’s fingers when he tries to pull away. “But that’s only because I’ve taken pity on you. Not everyone’s going to be as kind as me.”

Wonwoo scowls. “Are you saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’?”

“I’m saying yes, you moron.”

With a shake of his head, Wonwoo chuckles softly. His eyes are fond when they meet his, and Soonyoung knows he’s grinning like an idiot, but whatever, the situation deserves it. 

“That’s the most annoying way anyone’s ever agreed to go on a date with me,” Wonwoo says, nose crinkling in another wide smile. 

“Hey, I have to keep up with your annoying ways somehow, don’t I?” 

Wonwoo throws his head back in a laugh, and he giggles along feeling slightly giddy and excited. He glances over to check on the kids, to make sure they’re not choking on any of the snacks—

—and feels his heart plummet to the ground like a lead weight. 

“ _Shit!_ ”

“What?” Wonwoo asks, following his gaze, and then leaps to his feet with a loud curse, frantically looking around. “Wait, I see them!”

Soonyoung groans, scrambling to his feet and looking in the general direction Wonwoo’s pointing. And sure enough, the kids are waddling off, Jinki carefully holding Hyerim’s little hand as they chase a puppy around the park. 

“One of these days, I’m gonna drop dead from the stress of babysitting,” he grumbles, setting off after Wonwoo to collect their kids. 

“Me, too,” agrees Wonwoo, giving him a lopsided grin. “Our gravestones can read, 'Death by Babysitting'.”

“Valiant and courageous till the end.” Soonyoung snickers, and Wonwoo snorts loudly. 

“Let’s just face it,” says Wonwoo, hovering a few feet away from the children, watching them giggle and coo over the small puppy. Its owner smiles at them when Soonyoung waves at her sheepishly. “We suck at babysitting.”

“Yeah, we really do.”

~*~

  
  



End file.
